3086. To have any idea at all, even a very general one, of the things contained here in the internal sense, it should be recognized that the whole of this chapter is dealing with Divine truth that was to be joined to Divine Good. That is to say, Divine Good flowed into the natural man, that is, into the facts, cognitions, and matters of doctrine there, for these belong to the natural man insofar as they are in his memory. And by means of that influx, Divine Good brought light and life, and ordered all that was there; for all light, life, and order in the natural man result from influx from the Divine, as anyone may know if he pays the matter any attention. By means of that influx affection comes into being, first of all a general affection for truth, the affection dealt with in these two verses - its origin, in 3077, 3078; its nature, in 3079-3081; and the initial stage of its introduction, in 3082-3084. But the verses that follow directly after them, in the internal sense describe that process further, that is to say, investigation of that truth, and also the separation of the elements received from the mother which had been allied to it first of all, and so on. But I realize that these arcana are too deep to be understood easily, the reason being, as has been stated, that they are not known. Nevertheless since the internal sense describes them, and does so in great detail, what else is to be done but explain them, no matter how much they appear to be beyond human apprehension? At least one may see from this how deep the arcana are within the internal sense of the Word, and also that those arcana are such as to be hardly visible at all in the light of the world which man has during his lifetime, but that they are always seen more clearly and plainly to the extent that he passes from the light of the world into the light of heaven, the light into which he passes after death, and so sees in the light in which blessed and happy souls, that is, angels, dwell.

3472. CORRESPONDENCES AND REPRESENTATIONS - continued

ESPECIALLY THOSE CONTAINED IN THE WORD

Every single thing in the sense of the letter of the Word is representative of something spiritual or celestial belonging to the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and in the highest sense is representative of the Lord Himself. This becomes clear from what has been shown already, and in the Lord's Divine mercy from what has yet to be shown. But because people have distanced themselves so far away from heaven and have engrossed themselves in nature far below, indeed in what is earthly, they are utterly repelled when told that the Word conceals deeper things than those grasped from the letter. They are even more repelled when told that the Word contains things that are beyond man's mental grasp and that are suited only to the wisdom of the angels; and they are still more repelled when told that it contains Divine things themselves infinitely transcending the angels' power of understanding. The Christian world does indeed acknowledge that the Word is Divine; but the fact that it is so Divine the Christian world nevertheless denies in its heart if not with its lips. Nor is this surprising since the earthly-mindedness which exists in people at the present day does not allow them to grasp more exalted things; nor do they wish to.